Lady Sylvia’s Basic Mead Recipe

Heat 1-2 gallons of water in a stainless steal or coated pot. Do NOT use aluminum – it will taint your mead with a metallic flavor – YUCK!

Poor in your honey and and stir it occassionally to help the honey disolve. Heat to about 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn off the heat. This process will allow the honey to incorporate into the water. The lower the temperature the more flavors and aromas you will retain from the honey. At this temperature, you will also be able to kill most things that will contaminate your must and turn it into something bad.

Put about 2 gallons of water into your sterilized carboy or bucket. (If you are adding fruit, I highly recommend the bucket for the first two weeks – it’s difficult to get the fruit in and out of the carboy.)

Use a funnel to put the heated “must” (the unfermented concoction) into the carboy, or poor it in directly into the bucket.

Top of to 5 gallons.

In general, you will have 15 pounds (roughly one gallon) of honey to 4 gallons of water to begin a five gallon batch.

When the must cools so it is only warm to the touch (95-100 degrees) you can add the yeast to the must. Shake this vigorously to aerate, put the stopper and airlock on, and tuck away.

About 2 weeks after brewing, rack the initial must into a new, sanitized carboy. Rack every 8 – 12 weeks (or when you remember to) until the mead is clear and there is no sediment in the bottom of the carboy.